Eli POV

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I was up getting ready for my day of class as I slipped on my robes, looking over the grey bricks of my homes inner wall. It had been four days after my discussion with Salamede and what a productive four days it had been. I had gotten around to scouting out the southern forts and had made a quick visit to the humans in the orc territory, all the while working on a special suit for Cell.

Having him just hang on to me while we ventured out would be a waste if he could use spirit magic to move a humanoid body of wood and vines. It also meant that I would have a means of delivering a more frontal assault on my foes considering so little of the ‘body’ would actually hurt him if the six-foot-high suit was attacked. It was also coming along a lot faster this time around as I was no longer growing Cell inside my body, which I supposed was the reason why my mana output had increased significantly.

But the main concern today that I had was the final session of customized crafting, a course that was supposed to take several weeks, but my work and the advice I gave Jeff and Veronica had so impressed the teacher that my team was able to pass out of the class early. Much to the disdain of everyone else.

In addition to finishing that course, I was starting an alchemy course that dealt with growing your own magical resources and using them for various effects and all the dangers therein.

As I was putting on my veil, Cell had the black shimmering liquid of his body, a substance that looked metallic but upon touching it felt almost like a smooth crystal when the odd shapes across the surface died down, hidden under the metal straps along my neck with the sphere of his head sticking between the two wavy looking pieces of metal that held up my chain mail veil.

That made a piece that looked more like a magical jewel with a shimmering light fashioned after the gaudy embellishments I had seen on some of the mages who visited during Ryan’s ceremony commemorating his bravery at the docks. It wasn’t a one-to-one remake, but Cell had made the impression that he would follow me when I asked him about staying home and this was the best compromise.

Not that bringing him didn’t have its own merits. Having him on hand to see if there was any precedent for my familiar’s features would be useful, as would having a second… eye? to look over my shoulder when I was perusing scion related books that I couldn’t easily explain my interest in.

Another reason was giving him a clear view of the door on the second to last floor to the left side of the stairs exit, which he conveyed he was confident getting past after conducting a few tests when the staff members who were keeping an eye on me were distracted. The large door of cold iron was the barrier to the room that contained the bookcases containing scion spells. All the books I had read about scion magic didn’t lead me to believe anything in there would be as efficient a conversation stopper as a bullet to the skull, but scion level healing and metal spells were a seldom discussed subject and there might be something worth exploring in those barely used pages.

Besides, his head only barely peaked above the cut in the white undershirt of my academy outfit so no one was likely to get close enough to notice any subtle differences between my ‘jewel’ and the real thing. And no one did, at least no one human did. Making my way towards the classroom in the early morning after a quick breakfast, I walked down the road in a group of my fellow students.

Things had significantly changed since my doctor’s visit. The students now all seemed more cowed when they came around me. Apparently, the staff had announced a zero-tolerance policy for bullying and I was now able to walk about freely without any stray passerby giving me grief.

Sure, the usual suspects, Borin the pudgy man with blond hair and green eyes along with Raymond, the sharp cheeked cur with green eyes and brown bowl haircut, would look sullenly at me but Joey and John were mostly content with the hole I was in and seemed to have moved on from their grudges.

Coming up the staircase, I made my way to the left off the stairs exit and towards the class room door. As I came through the door, I got a face full of white feathers as Veronicas familiar, a seabird like creature with water mana along its wings and a crown of sharp feathers above its red eyes, as it perched up on my shoulder.

Veronica came up to me fretting as her blond hair fluttered from her sharp strides.

“Chattox! Stop harassing that poor man.” She said with an apology in her blue eye as she scooped her familiar back onto the shoulder of her suit like dress, a fashion statement that marked her different than any other girl in the academy.

“It’s fine. It’s not like I’m not used to it.” I said with what I felt was an appropriate amount of dejection.

It was something I was getting used to, in truth. During one of the crafting sessions, Chattox had deigned to grace us with its magnificence, much to the blushing pride of Veronica. It was during the last hour of our session that the bird had noticed something peculiar with the new piece of jewelry that I had brought along.

It was during Veronicas struggle to keep it from ripping off my veil that I felt some form of spirit magic pass between Chattox and Cell, a conversation Chattox had initiated from what Cell had impressed upon me. I had hoped it would be a one-off incident since Cell made sure to tell the other familiar the need to not reveal his existence.

But it seems the white bird of a familiar didn’t think that promise included the other familiars.

That same day the wine-red monkey from Andrew had dropped down onto me, giving me barely enough time to brace for impact before it landed right on my head. Some fire mana from the stripes on its forehead obscured my vision, having thrown itself from Andrews shoulder on the floor above when I had been studying some of the local maps. It bounced up and down on my head as it looked down at Cell’s sphere with green eyes shimmering in wonder. Later as I was taking a late lunch Ryan’s familiar, an elongated boulder that had stone club arms and legs studded with gems that glowed in brown earth mana, came pounding down the table to sit beside my tray and stare at me, or at least whatever equivalent its mode of visualizing its environment was.

The familiars were generally allowed to roam free and were considered a treat to interact with, but this singular interest was so odd even I would have noticed it during my reading sessions. I had tried leaving Cell at home and when I came back, I saw the bird flying around my door as the boulder and monkey beat against it. When I opened it, the bird flew in and rested on the crossbow laying in the corner, while the monkey swung back and forth in my hammock. The walking boulder just hugged the grey stone of my walls with affection.

It was all drawing far too much attention to me.

A short conversation, made harder by the general vagueness of the terms being relayed to me, had resulted in an agreement. They could come around Cell during school hours or when they wanted to play at night, but they had to not make it obvious they were doing so. Of course, telling their partners or anyone else about me was forbidden as well. That had been established in the earlier promise but I wanted that point solidly established in the agreement with the other familiars as well.

Which is why Chattox also jumped the three students after me before settling down on Veronicas lap as she sat across from me.

“Honestly, what am I going to do with you?” she fussed as she stroked the birds back. The bird squawked contently with its eyes closed and what I could have sworn was a smile across its beak.

While the other students struggled with their crafts, we were now officially handing over our items to each other. I gave Veronica a wooden handle with a reservoir of water inside. This craft would mold the water into a number of blades, for either scaling fish, cleaving heavy joints or a regular kitchen knife. Each corresponded to a different button that was covered and spaced in the proper places so that they wouldn’t be accidently pressed.

It didn’t have the ‘wow’ factor my previous creations had but the teacher had noticed the subtle curves in the handle, the exact dimensions of the blades, and the spacing of the buttons that allowed me to pass with full marks.

Jeff got a passing grade with a block of wood that was sculpted into the appearance of several logs in a circle that put out a heavy heat that quickly enveloped the surrounding area, which he gave to me. Veronica gave Jeff a painted pot filled with a series of wooden flowers that spat out a light mist into the air in a wide area, giving the air a clean, distinct feeling like that after a storm.

While good products on their own, my advice on button placement, adjustable heat and how to get the mist to come out in just the right way that allowed it to spread throughout a whole room helped push them into quality products.

My task finished for the day; I went back to my hunt for scion related material. All of their books were in a restricted section so other students wouldn’t interfere with the scion’s studies of their unique magics. Even with that limitation, I got some new information when Cell slipped in the previous night when I had a late ‘study session’: Familiars were like other magical beasts, in that they used magic inside their bodies instead of having to cast them outside their bodies like humans. The mana they showed off wasn’t produced internally like my own ability rather they just stored vast amounts of it that leaked out over time. There were also a few passages about familiars being a conduit for their partners emotions.

Bereft of any more time, I headed to the place where the alchemy course was being held. It was actually outside on the grass field with several wooden logs erecting garden beds along the back side of the towers facing away from the main entrance road. Along these logs were several helmets and thick leather body suits. Standing in front of the center box was a woman in academy attire but with a leather apron and a hoe in her hand who now interrupted the chatter of the surrounding students.

“All right sprouts. Listen up.” She said with her black hair peeking out beyond the straw cap that helped shield her rather portly figure. Her Blue eyes looked around at the surrounding students with a heavy gaze.

“I know you lot must think this is peasant work. Peasant work doesn’t involve swarms of ants that spew fire balls at you or slugs that cut you with water blades. This is the quickest path to wealth and the most dangerous. There are entire guilds whose one and only job is to cull and fight parasites that get into mana rich gardens.” She said to the assembly.

The rest of the lesson was spent going over the general dimensions of how to plan the enchantments for the wood of the garden beds and how they worked. You would have circles constantly expelling mana into the soil of the garden, mana that was collected through yards long enchantments on leather strips This created a mana rich environment in the center of a mana dead zone.

What made the task so dangerous was the parasites that would eat the magically enhanced plants. To make the point, a maggot who had been missed in some of the blue potatoes a woman, sweaty and tired with her protective gear removed to help her with the heat, had been picking. It made its presence known when it launched a block of stone towards the disturbance and broke her jaw.

Most of the students backed off and were suddenly very reluctant to dig into the soil as the woman was dragged off by the medical team. I worked up a good sweat and while the class had been completed by everyone, anyone who was interested in continuing this specialization signed up for the advancement classes. I signed up for it and was quite interested in the magical slugs. She said they produced a number of odd chemicals and one of the subjects covered in the advanced courses was producing a variety of such parasites on purpose.

Coming back into the building, I sat in a wooden chair in a corner on the third floor of the main tower to sit and read over some more texts involving the orcs. I had finally gotten my scouting done, a task made considerably easier now that Salamede’s suit could travel at the same speed as mine and she had mastered the skills to use it. It looked like the forts would hold just fine as they were wide things equipped with catapults and the magical cannons like those that resembled my shoulder cannon. That, combined with the fact that the soil wasn’t solid enough to allow for underwater tunnels, meant the orcs weren’t going to be taking them with anything short of a full-scale siege, which went very much against their typical tactics.

More to the point, the human villages, plural, that I had found as I whisked through the none swamp portions of orc territory seemed well treated. Which made sense from a tactical point of view. Whatever their long-term goals, enslaving the humans would have been a monumental task to house, feed, and watch over any significant population beyond the barest handful and it wasn’t like the humans there had anywhere else to go. With the options of the orcs safety or getting killed by the bandits who would know damn well where they came from, the choice would only be a hard one to make for anyone who didn’t actually have to live with the consequences.

Another benefit for the orcs was that these human villages were the only safe source of breeding stock the orcs wouldn’t have to risk their lives to get. The only demands they seemed to make of the humans in their territory were portions of grain harvests, carefully checked for poisons of course, and the mating with one of a farmer’s sons. A task the boys carried out with a stoic bravery that was no doubt appreciated by the village’s women.

Which was certainly not something that was going to be found in any of the books I was currently reading. Most of the authors just stuck to how to kill them and the few who did try and flesh out the species history stuck to the same basic story of how Garren produced them, which was quite an odd tale.

He had been a mage of little fame a few thousand years ago who, after a disappearance, had shown back up in some basically worthless forest land on the southern part of the central continent and dumped the orcs off with no real ceremony or theater in a jungle village. The information about what actually motivated this action or what methods he had used to create them were either unknown or it was covered with speculation that had no grounding in any actual fact. As fascinating as this was, it did nothing to help me.

Everything was set up for me to help the orcs take the Viper base. Aside from finding that one orc, Gula if I remember correctly, the only other issues would be explaining why exactly I was helping them and making sure I didn’t get into a position where they could kidnap me.

At least those were the only practical issues.

Helping the orcs take over the southern section, and that was what it was plain and simple, would result in a lot of soldier’s deaths and untold terror amongst the populace. I recalled the fear Shelby, the older robed woman who I helped defend the barge service, had displayed when talking about them. Was I willing to inflict that kind of emotional suffering on thousands of people just to save my reputation? I went over all the old arguments.

Running off to another academy would mean I would have to start over. Only then the rumors and slander around me would be the only things I was known for as opposed to the few good deeds I had under my belt here. Another recent aspect was that things were getting slightly better and I couldn’t justify completely disappearing and starting over from nothing, not that I could start over anywhere else as long as my unique features marked me like a beacon.

Things had settled down somewhat as the nobles behind this mess had apparently crossed a line by accidently raiding the town. That or the recent surge of the orcs in the southern region pulled their resources to defend their holdings as the people who had been following the genius crafter around had been moved elsewhere. My current delay was mostly justified by the obvious benefits of creating a third party member, via Cells doll body, but even that couldn’t push off the inevitable decision but for so long.

I brooded, pondered, and imagined but the same answer still presented itself.

Getting up out of my corner after more fruitless deliberation, I went to put my book back when I passed by Raymond and Bosin as well as three of their friends. They shoved past me and I just moved on past them. But when I took two more steps forward, my brain registered my foot crunching against a piece of bark.

My instincts told me to dodge but I had already stepped on it, and as I did so a few balls of flame shot out of it and took me in the gut, thighs, and right knee. I first registered it wasn’t lethal as I worked through the pain of my flesh searing. I jostled quickly to the right as I knocked into a bookshelf. Something in my ears registered a yell but I was too focused on removing my quickly burning robes.

Making sure to keep my mind on any further oncoming attacks and not seeing or hearing any, I fought the urge to cast a healing spell as I finally worked myself out of robes. Free of the burning restraints, I threw them towards the stone wall away from the red carpet that was laid out in the main walkway.

“Bah! Even his pubic hair is white.” I heard Raymond snicker to my left as he and the rest of the bunch who laid the trap pointed and laughed openly.

Down to my underwear, I bared my teeth and tried to approach but the burns on my legs cried out in protest. I kept my eyes on them as I moved away to make sure they didn’t try to finish the job but fortunately a staff member came rushing towards us. I felt a surge of anger emanating from a spirit connection that was being broadcasted from Cell, but I willed him to calm down, which he sort of did.

“Healing potions! Burns on the third floor.” The man with a black beard and green eyes shouted over the railing to the staff below. The group who set the trap didn’t look the least bit repentant as the staff member glared at them and looked me over as a pair of the medical team came down from the top stairs carrying a large pouch, from which they took a healing potion and poured the red liquid down my throat as the man who first came gave me his staff robe to cover myself up.

A small crowd gathered around us now to observe the scene, but Aki cut through them as he approached from the main staircase like a wolf moving through a herd of rabbits who had learned the cost of obstructing him the last time. His brown eyes took in the bark piece on the floor, my healing skin and the smug looks on my attackers faces.

“Tansen’s office, NOW!” He said as the last word came off like a physical blow as he used magic to turn up its volume far beyond what his lungs could have achieved.

After a few minutes, I was good enough to walk and was given a new white underrobe and striped blue and white outer robe. We were all escorted by a small troop of eight guards back towards the dorms. Raymond and Borin’s group were nervous as we came down the stairs but as we walked down the road, they seemed to get a second wind and looked around casually, as if this was all no big deal.

Coming up through the tower we were all eventually brought into the academy heads office. The simple oak desk, wooden floors and alternating colors of blue and white on the walls were all illuminated by the mana crystal lamp firmly attached to the middle of the ceiling with the diamond of crystal giving off a soft orange glow that reflected off of Tansen’s face.

While he wore the typical black kimono, the wave of sapphires across his chest seemed more like the waves of a storm as opposed to the gentle ocean surf it usually resembled as he walked between the five members of Raymond and Borins group. Their previous confidence evaporated when they each fell under his gaze. A thing so typically filled with either sympathy or light hearted jokes, now looked to be summoning the fire element itself as it burned into each of the now sweating men while I stood over by the wall to the left of the group.

Eventually, he finished his round of inspections and returned to his desk. Sitting in the chair, he put his hands together as he leaned forward and spoke for the first time since we had come in.

“Before you’re all expelled, do you have anything to say that could possibly save you?” He said in a tone of pure bone chilling ice.

Borin stepped forward, his pudgy neck had some sweat, but his blond hair was still well kempt, and his green eyes showed resolve.

“If we are to be punished, should not everyone involved all be punished? After all, we got the help to make this bark craft from another student.” He said with some confidence.

Tansens’ goatee twitched in irritation as he shifted his gaze towards Aki, who had been silently standing to his left.

“Going over it with the staff it would appear they got help with this from Andrew” Aki said with a dissatisfied frown.

‘Ah that’s what they were playing at’ I thought to myself as the groups now smug expressions replaced their fear. Maybe Tansen would get a group of casters in trouble but going after a scion was another matter. Whether or not Andrew was actually guilty mattered little. Upsetting a scion for the sake of a crafter just wasn’t politically wise, no matter how justified.

Resigning myself to no justice, I started going over all the ways I would have to protect myself in the future when something unexpected happened.

Tansen’s face got several hard lines as his face showed determination and seemed to resolve himself to a hard course of action as he leaned back into his chair.

“Aki, get Andrew here now.” He said to his favored assistant.

Instead of objecting, Aki just nodded and went out of the room. Even the guards by the door were shocked at this as everyone’s eye went wide. I raised an eyebrow but there was a small part of my heart that was overjoyed.

But after a while, it wasn’t Andrew but Agatha who came through the door. Her blue eyes were wild and the bun of blond hair she typically wore had a few stray strands flowing over her black work dress. The reddened tone of her sharp cheek bones and heavy breathing said she had run all the way here.

“Tansen, what is going on?” She asked between gritted teeth.

“School discipline. I don’t remember asking for your presence.” Tansen said in a steely voice.

“Going after a scion? Have you lost your mind?” She demanded.

“School. Discipline.” Tansen said again.

“We’re already falling below his projected siring rates and you dare think of expelling him? I’m putting a hold on this until an official investigation can be started, I-“ She was interrupted as the person in question came through the door.

“Ah Andrew. Just the person we need.” Tansen said with a smile as he leaned forward.

The red heads’ oceanic eyes looked around with a question in his gaze as he took the others in the room. Behind him came Aki. The old man came up to Tansen’s right side and whispered in his ear.

“Ok. I assume Aki told you why you’re here?” Tansen asked.

Andrew nodded as he shot a murderous glance towards the five men. They all looked like they wanted to puke right then and there but their throats were too clenched to allow the vomit to pass from their throat.

“Come forward and tell us nothing but the truth. If you lie here and now, you will be going back to the capital before this day is out.” Tansen said in a firm tone.

Agatha looked like she wanted to explode at this as her hands curled into fists at her side, but Andrew took it in stride with an even nod.

“They asked for a fire construct as I was trying a three-ring fire spell on the practice roof. They said they needed it for a school project. Seeing as Raymond and Borin were water element users, I obliged them.” Andrew said, explaining everything in one short, concise sentence. Aki gave a light cough as he pushed the conversation forward.

“I’ve contacted the staff to get an official testimony from the person overseeing the practice field when this happened. We’ll have a written statement by this time tomorrow.” Aki finished.

“All right then. As for you five, we-“Agatha had finally had enough and threw up her hands.

“Listen Tansen, you may be the academy head, but the Front gets a say as well,” She said in a bitter tone.

Tansen’s face became red at this but he gave us all a passing glance before talking again.

“Borin, Rayomd, and the rest of you lot. Do not think there will be no consequences for your actions today. Everyone out.” He said in a firm tone.

We all promptly scooted out the door as a heated discussion then started behind the closed door as we walked away. The bullies just took off down the steps, and made their way through the floors looking they were just trying to not throw up before they got outside. A goal only some of them managed to achieve.

I was walking out of the main gate while taking in what looked like a massive crowd in the distant market to the right and left of the main road leading from the academy gate. The early afternoon sun was shining on this clear day as people from all over made their way to the market in far larger numbers than usual.

Coming up to me on the road to my left was Salamede. Her green dress had the white undershirt to provide some modesty for her considerably feminine features as she bounced up to me with clear excitement.

“Eli! Dwarves!” She said the moment she came within spirit magic distance.

“Huh?” the poetry flowed from my mouth as I tried to keep up with her while she took my arm and dragged me towards the market.

“The dwarves! They set up some shops to sell some of their goods. They’re are some of the best smiths and magical craft makers in the world. Come on.” She said in a barely coherent stream of enthusiasm as we pushed through the crowd. In the distance I saw some carriages that had the fancy banners and symbols of various noble houses coming across the bridge.

I even saw some of the dock workers and ship captains among the mess. The dwarf’s stalls were impossible to miss. They were made up of a half-moon comprised of a smooth single table covered with deep green and red silks. The top of their stalls were propped up on steel poles with a dazzling array of purples, deep blues, light green, and blood red tops. Inside each was either a mini forge compacted down to look almost like an oven, but the metal melting heat they spewed and mana they absorbed made the magical nature of these iron boxes undeniable, or a wide array of beakers, mortars and pestles, and other alchemy tools. A few wider stalls of theirs also had various delicacies.

The stalls were spread out over a wider area between the regular stalls and a few of the dwarves carriages were coming in bringing more goods and more tents. These were almost similar to more modern vehicles but with a large metal golem pulling them along instead of an engine or hover pad. The carriages were multi decker’s with steel- half oval roofs. In between the beams that formed the skeleton for this roof were four windows.

The golems were large, round bodies with plates of steel and what looked like a complex interweaving of leather and some kind of crystal bones to form pseudo human arms and legs that peeked out below the intricately engraved slabs of metal where the joints moved. On top of the orb-like midsection was a dwarf sitting on a leather pad while moving their hands and feet around in some holes that lead into the construct’s shoulders and main body, giving them the ability to move the giants swaying and stomping beneath them as they moved through the parting crowd.

We spent the rest of the afternoon perusing their various goods and food stuffs as the heady scent of the deep earth filled the air.

“I heard the dwarves have always been a seclusive people, yet the rumors say they even visited the Bulwark and a few more towns south to us.” Salamede said as we snacked on some stuffed mushrooms. “I wonder what brought this on”

“This isn’t an annual thing they do?” I asked, washing my mushroom down with some strong beer that smelled faintly of aged steak.

“Once a year? This is more of a once in a lifetime thing. But there are no restrictions on trading with them and the guards inspected all the goods before they came here so I intend to enjoy as much as possible.” She said with determination, a sentiment Cell echoed to me.

The rest of the day was spent savoring the various delicacies and admiring the crafts of these semi-mythical people. Those who had been such an integral part of this regions life and history but never presenting themselves now worked openly amongst us and it was an experience every noble in the region seemed determined to use to burnish their prestige by acquiring some dwarven good to use as a family heirloom.

Whether it was a sword whose metal seemed to come alive in the air, or a piece of jewelry hand crafted with a degree of precision that impressed even my veteran eyes, every noble and student buzzed about to get something to show for their trip here. Even the other vendors were left happy despite the initially worried faces of the stall owners in between the colorful dwarven stands. While they couldn’t get the nobles coin, the carriages and servants also needed maintenance, food and entertainment, things that would be far too expensive to get dwarves to do.

Order was kept by the guards and the day gradually turned into night. I went back home with a belly full of beer and steak to help me get over my current dilemma with the orcs, while Salamede got a rose crystal clasp that was pinned to her dress’s chest. I waved her goodbye in the late night as I worked my way back into my tower. Taking off my robe and laying it on the chair to the left of my hammock, I went back outside and did a quick brush of my teeth using water magic to blast the bits of my late dinner out from between my teeth into the grass. Going back inside, I laid in the hammock with a sense of contentment as the world turned black with Cell laying on my chest.